Google picks Kansas City, Kan. for its gigafiber network

Google announced Wednesday that it would install its one-gigabit fiber network in Kansas City, Kan., after a months-long effort by hundreds of communities across the country to land the project.

Among the most spirited campaigns locally was the one in Troy, where a group calling itself Troygle held rallies, set up a website and a Facebook page, and made a video pitch.

Troygle.org’s Lisa Powell Graham had the following response this afternoon to the news that Kansas City had been chosen:

The Troygle team would like to congratulate everyone in Kansas City, Kansas for their winning efforts to bring gigafiber to their community. We are proud of the team here in Troy that united for the Troygle campaign. Business leaders, elected officials, neighborhood residents, IT experts, and more came together to give it our best shot to convince Google to come to true. Our video was lauded by one viewer as “the best marketing video I’ve seen for the cause yet! Other cities have not focused nearly as much﻿ on the ‘why’ and significance.”

Thanks to everyone who donated their time, talents and energy to these efforts! We are happy to say that as a result we formed a technology best practices committee in City Hall, spearheaded by City Councilor Ken Zalewski.

We hope in the future to find other ways to bring high speed Internet to Troy. This was a fun way to unite all of the city together around a great cause!

Meanwhile, the speeds that Google is trumpeting may be unusual for the United States, but are becoming more common elsewhere. Hong Kong already has gigabit speeds, and the monthly fee for one-gigabit service is just $26, according to the New York Times.